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<< Our Photo Pages >> Unstan - Chambered Tomb in Scotland in Orkney
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Submitted by howar on Wednesday, 28 January 2004 Page Views: 8756
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Scotland
Site Name: Unstan Alternative Name: Onstan, Knowe of Onston
Country: Scotland County: Orkney Type: Chambered Tomb
Nearest Town: Stromness Nearest Village: Clouston
Map Ref: HY283117 Landranger Map Number: 6
Latitude: 58.986399N Longitude: 3.249245W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
5
Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
5
Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
5
Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
5
Internal Links:    
External Links:             Unstan submitted by howar
Chambered Tomb in Orkney. All the years that I have been in Orkney of all the major sites to look at I had never been to the Knowe of Onston, despite its lying alongside the main road just short of the Brig o'Waithe. Somehow it looked insignificant and also I was put off by the thought of crawling through some damp passage. Then I saw a photo of the inside on a website and was surprised by the light and space.
So one weekend two weeks later I finally paid homage to the Unstan Tomb, finding it to be just as the photo showed. Such a contrast to the Cuween Hill Cairn: there really was a short crawl, here more a shambling crouch, there the main compartment only fairly visible with a lantern, here apart (alas) for the side-chamber it was as if you were out in the open. The place is refreshing to look at and in my limited opinion is as good as our stalled cairns get, short of a trip to Rousay. A couple visiting at the time were impressed by the use of red sandstone slabs.
Additional information contributed by Drew Parsons September 2010:
First excavated in 1884 and again in 1934 when it was taken into State care the 4500 year old site has yeilded a number of important finds including crouched skeletons, a few well made fint tools and large numbers of pot sherds, so many infact that the specific type of pottery found here has been given the name of Unstan Ware and has been found at other sites including the Knap of Howar on Papa Westray. The chamber is divided into sections by large flagstones to create a stalled cairn and is accessed along an almost 8 metre passage. The chamber is now capped with a conrete dome with glass covers to allow light into the chamber. The site is well sign posted from the road and a small car parking area is adjacent to the farm house from where a short path leads to the site. In September 2010 the gate to the passage was not locked.
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 Unstan submitted by durhamnature
Bowl from the cairn, from "Scotland in Pagan Times" via archive.org
 Unstan submitted by durhamnature
 Unstan submitted by durhamnature
Bowls from the cairn, from "Scotland in Pagan Times" via archive.org
 Unstan submitted by durhamnature
 Unstan submitted by durhamnature
Plan of the cairn, from "Scotland in Pagan Times" via archive.org
 Unstan submitted by 43559959
A grand entrance arriving at the Unstan chambered tomb.
 Unstan submitted by paulinelen
This was taken by Chris at the back of the cairn apparently its a wall foundation
 Unstan submitted by paulinelen
This was taken on the main road as we approached the cairn, the access road took a little finding despite a signpost. the tomb is in excellent condition and beautifully maintained
 Unstan submitted by paulinelen
The extent of the passageway from end chamber.
 Unstan submitted by paulinelen
Excellent example, really well kept too, well worth a visit
 Unstan submitted by howar
seen from area of Kethesgeo Stone site
 Unstan submitted by megalithicmatt
Unstan - view from the northeast.
 Unstan submitted by Runemage
Bird carving on lintel. No idea what the other marks are besides readable graffiti, possibly a few runes but they don't look ancient like the ones in Maeshowe.
 Unstan submitted by DrewParsons
The mound. September 2010.
 Unstan submitted by DrewParsons
The side chamber off the main chamber. It was here that the 1884 excavations uncovered the two crouching skeletons. September 2010.
These are just the most recent 15 photos of Unstan.
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Re: Unstan (Score: 1)
by DrewParsons on Friday, 15 October 2010
(User Info | Send a Message) | | First excavated in 1884 and again in 1934 when it was taken into State care the 4500 year old site has yeilded a number of important finds including crouched skeletons and large numbers of pot sherds, so many infact that the specific type of pottery found here has been given the name of Unstan Ware and has been found at other sites including the Knap of Howar on Papa Westray. The chamber is divided into sections by large flagstones to create a stalled cairn and is accessed along an almost 8 metre passage. The chamber is now capped with a conrete dome with glass covers to allow light into the chamber. The site is well sign posted from the road and a small car parking area is adjacent to the farm house from where a short path leads to the site. In September 2010 the gate to the passage was not locked. | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Unstan in Summer of 2009 (Score: 1)
by SteveDut on Monday, 12 April 2010
(User Info | Send a Message) | At point 00.25 to 00.23 there can be seen 2 black objects, is this a trick of photography? it seems there is no roof and that these objects are floating?
If not can anyone elaborate please? | [ Reply to This ]
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 We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
 Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
 Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
 Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma. |
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